Killer in 1990 slaying apologizes, cries at sentencing

Saturday

Mar 27, 2010 at 2:00 AM

GOSHEN — James J. Babcock had a lot of apologizing to do Friday: To the family of the woman he strangled and stabbed, to his own family and finally, to the innocent man who spent more than a year in jail for the 1990 slaying of Elaine Ackerman in her home in the Town of Deerpark.Babcock, 44, was sentenced in Orange County Court to 8﻿1/3 to 25 years in state prison. He pleaded guilty last month to first-degree manslaughter as his trial on a murder charge was about to begin.

OLIVER MACKSON

GOSHEN — James J. Babcock had a lot of apologizing to do Friday: To the family of the woman he strangled and stabbed, to his own family and finally, to the innocent man who spent more than a year in jail for the 1990 slaying of Elaine Ackerman in her home in the Town of Deerpark.

Babcock, 44, was sentenced in Orange County Court to 8﻿1/3 to 25 years in state prison. He pleaded guilty last month to first-degree manslaughter as his trial on a murder charge was about to begin.

"I'd like to just apologize to the family for what I've done. I can never replace Mrs. Ackerman's life," Babcock said, bowing his handcuffed, 250-pound frame as he broke down crying.

Ackerman's brother, Harold Maresco of Toms River, N.J., spoke on her behalf, angrily jabbing his finger in Babcock's direction. Maresco said his sister doted on his children, her nieces and nephews. He couldn't understand why anyone would stab her so viciously that the knife went clear through her throat into her spinal column.

"He should be gettin' life," Maresco told the judge, "not 25 years."

As Maresco spoke, a 38-year-old man named Kevin Keller listened, sitting on a courtroom bench with his younger brother and sister. Keller was 18 when state police charged him with the 1990 killing. After more than a year in the Orange County Jail, he was released by a judge who found Keller's confession didn't square with DNA evidence at the crime scene.

The DNA was matched with Babcock's DNA in April 2009. Babcock had to surrender a DNA sample last year, after he pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated, a felony.

Kevin Keller now lives in the Poconos, having been treated as a pariah by many people even after he was cleared. He lost jobs, he was harassed and he and his brother and sister were taunted with chants of "Killer Keller."

Asked if he thought Babcock's apology was sincere, Keller said, "That's not for me to judge.

I'm not gonna be the judge. I'm not gonna be the jury. I've been on the receiving end of that, and it sucks."

He pondered the question for a moment longer.

"If he meant that apology, thank you. But there are a lot of people who need to apologize."

Mostly, Keller wants to be left alone. After Babcock was arrested last year, an academician who's studying false confessions reached out to Keller, wanting to speak with him as part of the research for a book. Keller wanted no part of it, saying, "I don't want to be anyone's poster child."

He hugged his wife and stood quietly in a courthouse hallway, talking with his brother and sister. His brother, Brent, brushed away some tears. With time already served, Babcock could be eligible for parole in about eight years.

"This isn't justice," Brent Keller said. "This is a joke without a punchline."